The Virtuous Woman

I was reading the famous “Virtuous Woman” passage of Proverbs 31 the other day and I found that I wanted to get a fresh perspective on the passage by way of a more fluid translation. So I looked up the passage in Eugene Peterson’s “The Message,” and what I found was quite humorous:

Verse 13: “She shops around for the best yarns and cottons, and enjoys knitting and sewing.”

Verse 14: She brings back “exotic surprises”

Verse 16: She “plants a garden” with her extra money

Verse 19: “She’s skilled in the in the crafts of home and hearth, diligent in homemaking”

Verse 23: “She…dresses in colorful linens and silks”

Verse 31: “Festoon her with praises!”

So apparently I need to be looking for a colorfully dressed, yarn-spinning, homemaking, exotically surprising, garden planting, sock knitting, sewing machine of a woman that I can festoon with praises for the rest of my life! What a standard to live up to ladies! And I don’t even know what ‘festoon’ means.

The fact that this translation is so funny is probably related to the fact that Peterson’s translation misses the point. I think there are two important things we can take away from this. First, we need the church. We are called every day to delve into God’s Word and see what He has to say to us for this day. But one man’s interpretation can’t always be right. Essentially, that is what The Message is: one man’s interpretation of the Bible. We would be wise not to put all our eggs in one basket. The church, on the other hand with its years of theology and proven beliefs, provides us with a safety net against heresy, charismatic pastors, and misinterpreted passages. This is nothing against the priesthood of all believers. But, as we all know, there are no “lone ranger Christians.”

Second, I came to the realization that everything I hold to be true about marriage and sexuality is based on this passage written 2,500 years ago by some old patriarch named King Lemuel. Isn’t that strange? What if King Lemuel is wrong? Indeed, the whole world seems to think he is. When we look for a quality woman via the world’s standards, we find the exact opposite of what Lemuel wrote here. My flesh cries out to ignore that truth that “charm is deceitful and beauty is vain.” Certainly things don’t seem to be that way right now. It all comes down, then, to a matter of trust. How much do I trust God’s Word? How much do I trust that the Spirit inspired the words of King Lemuel? How much do I believe on the Bible’s promises? How much do I trust Jesus? The answer to those questions depends on what I do with passages such as Proverbs 31. Can I trust the Bible against the wisdom of the world? Who do you trust? The husband of the virtuous woman’s “heart trusts in her, and he will have no lack of gain” (ESV) . And he can only trust in her because she fears the Lord. So believe the Word of God, and build your house upon it. That’s essentially what Proverbs 31 calls for anyways. We would do well to remember that.